Mike Rogers, Republican incumbent representative for the 8th Congressional District, shakes hands with fellow Republicans and volunteers Tuesday evening at the Ingham County Republican Party’s Lansing Victory Center, 2121 E. Grand River Ave.
U.S Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, retained his seat in the race for the 8th Congressional District over Democratic challenger Bob Alexander.
As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Michigan’s Department of State recorded more than a 30,000-vote lead for Rogers, with all but Oakland County precincts accounted for.
The victory gives Rogers his second win against Alexander. Rogers beat Alexander in 2004.
“We’ve had a great diversity of support, and that’s excellent for us,” Rogers said.
The 2004 election was a clear victory for Rogers, who received 61 percent of the vote over Alexander’s 37 percent.
But this year’s race was surrounded by shifting circumstances, Rogers said.
“It’s just a very different year,” he said. “The economy’s been bad, and there’s just been a lot of anxiety there.”
Regardless of the congressional horse race, Rogers said he spent his day away from the polls and thanking his supporters.
“The campaign closes when the polls open,” he said.
And the governing starts now that the election has passed — whoever’s the victor once the votes are tallied.
“Enough finger-pointing” Rogers said. “Now it’s time to govern.”
The 64-year-old Alexander led with 51 percent of the vote in Ingham County, with nearly 91 percent of county precincts reporting. Rogers had about 45 percent of that vote.
Meanwhile in Clinton County, Rogers was leading with 62 percent, compared to Alexander’s 31 percent, with about 43 percent of precincts reporting. In Livingston County, Rogers was leading with 67 percent, and Alexander had 30 percent, with 96 percent of precincts reporting.
The state of Michigan has not released total precincts reporting for the 8th Congressional District.
Alexander worked on three prior campaigns against Rogers that had fallen short. He was neck and neck with Rogers in election projections and finished close despite spending a lot less on campaigning compared to Rogers.
“It doesn’t come as a surprise because we didn’t have a whole lot of resources to back us up, but we were able to get a lot of support,” said Alexander from his rally in Lansing.
Alexander’s campaign was strongly volunteer-oriented, as was apparent Tuesday at his election headquarters in Lansing, where dozens of supporters erupted after Barack Obama was announced the presidential winner.
The crowd welcomed the announcement of the Democratic president-elect with cheers of “Barack is here,” and celebrated with alcohol, refreshments and dancing.
“It’s fantastic — this place has been very exciting and celebratory all night,” said Delta Township resident Don Novello.
After losing to Rogers in 2004, Alexander said prior to Tuesday’s election he thought this campaign, which took more of an aim at Rogers’ platform, would prove successful.
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Alexander said he spent most of his time campaigning outside Greater Lansing, leaving Ingham County to the Obama campaign.
“We received the most support from the Obama campaign,” Alexander said.
“There were more than 200 volunteer campaign leaders.”
Rogers’ brother, Bill Rogers, who ran for the 66th District state congressional seat, said many voters were splitting their ballot, and voting for individual candidates more than a particular party.
“The biggest difference has been the real Obama factor,” he said.
“Looking at a lot of the races throughout the county, everything is flipped upside down.”
